


A Good Day

by CuriosityAesthetic



Category: Redacted ASMR, Youtube ASMR, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Aftermath of Injury, Asher cameo, Best Friends, Caelum deserves good things, Davey cameo, Found Family, I love our soft empathy daemon boi, just so soft, mentions of injury, soft, some of Freelancer's backstory, you can pry their friendship from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriosityAesthetic/pseuds/CuriosityAesthetic
Summary: Caelum's physical injuries have healed. If only his heart could heal so easily. Freelancer is worried. Caelum works so hard to take care of everybody else, to untie the knots of their emotional turmoil, but who takes care of the empathy daemons?Determined to make sure that Caelum has more good memories to draw upon, they are enact Operation: Happy Caelum Day.
Relationships: Caelum and Freelancer, Caelum and Listener
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	A Good Day

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so that video just broke me. 
> 
> I'd been planning to write something like this for a while now, but after that last video... I had to. Caelum deserves all the good things the world can give him.

Caelum stayed with me that night. If he hadn’t already asked if he could, I’d have asked him to stay anyway. I didn’t want him to be alone.

It wasn’t easy, fighting down the black rage inside of me at the idea that someone had hurt him so badly, but I did it anyway. I pushed down the anger and the heartache, and tried to focus only on caring for him. 

I held him tight as he buried his face against my chest, his arms wrapped around me. For a time we stayed like that as I carded my fingers gently through his hair, promising him everything would be okay. That I would be here for him. I wasn’t going anywhere. 

He was still pale and shaky when he let go, and even though his magic had healed his physical injuries, his eyes were still dark and shadowed with fatigue. 

His eyes were still wet with tears. I brushed them away as gently as I could. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he answered in a small voice. “Thank you.”

“Do you want something to drink?” Could empathy daemons get dehydration headaches? “Or if you want, I could make us some hot chocolate.”

Caelum’s face brightened hopefully at the offer. “You have hot chocolate?”

“The good stuff, too,” I promised with a nod. I had a bag of Calibaut chocolate stashed in my fridge. A Freelancer deserved their comforts. “Come on. You can sit with me in the kitchen as I make it, ‘kay?” 

He nodded, taking my offered hand and letting me lead him across my small studio apartment to the kitchen. He seemed to do better when he was close to me, so I set one of the mismatched kitchen chairs next to the stove so he could be close while I cooked. 

I hadn’t been able to take much with me when I came to Dahlia. My car could only tow so much. But I had managed to bring all of my kitchen stuff along. 

I pulled a small saucepan out from the drawer under the stove and set it on the cooktop to heat. Then I got the milk and chocolate from the fridge. All the while I tried to keep Caelum distracted. I asked about how his other charges were doing, told him about working with Huxley in elemental control, and his uses of ‘stick-bro’ to explain any magical principles that I didn’t understand. 

“You’d like him,” I said as I stirred the slowly melting chocolate. “He’s a good guy. Sweet. Maybe he could see you too.”

Caelum smiled back, a shade less bright. As if he didn’t quite believe me. “Maybe he can.”

That wouldn’t do. I was supposed to be making him happy. “Ooh! Should we add something special to our hot chocolate?”

He cocked his head curiously. “Special?”

I ducked around him to open the pantry. “Cinnamon and vanilla. It’s really good. It’s like…. Drinking hugs.”

The expression that lit his face was both precious and comical. “It is?”

It was the best way I could think of to describe it. Warm and sweet and comforting. Exactly what Caelum needed right now. “Yeah. I like to add grenadine in sometimes, cuz it tastes like black forest cake. But today feels like a cinnamon and vanilla kind of day.”

Caelum nodded eagerly. “I don’t know what grenadine is but if it tastes like cake we can do that next time.”

“It’s like… sort of a cherry syrup?” I explained as I whisked the vanilla into the slowly melting chocolate and milk mixture. “Like, have you ever had a Shirley Temple? It’s the red stuff in there.”

“No? I don’t think so? I thought Shirley Temple was a person.”

“She was. An actress. They named a drink after her.” I made a mental note to see if I had the makings for those for the next day. 

It was easy enough to keep him distracted as I cooked. If I kept talking, if I focused only on him, I could keep up the front of positivity that he so badly needed. I knew that he could probably feel my hurt for him, the frustration and helplessness that I couldn’t do more for him before. But I hoped he could also feel how happy I was to be trusted so deeply that he came to me when he needed help, and how badly I wanted him to be safe and happy. 

When the chocolate was properly melted and the mixture ran smooth under the whisk, I turned off the burner and poured the drink into a pair of mugs decorated with dancing sloths. 

“Here,” I said, passing Caelum one of the cups. “Careful, it’s hot.”

He blew on it a couple times, then tried to drink it anyway, letting out a soft yelp as it burned his tongue. “Ah! Hot! Hot!” He stuck out his tongue, blowing awkwardly to try to cool the burn.

“I said it was hot.” I shook my head, pulling up a chair so I could sit next to him, our knees pressing together in the half-lit kitchen. “You may have to give it a minute.”

The pout that Caelum sent me in response was beyond adorable. Maybe that was what encouraged me to do what I did next.

I glanced between our mugs, at the steam swirling above the dark liquid. Then I put my own mug down on the counter. 

“What are you doing?” Caelum asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“I’m going to try to cool our drinks down. With magic.”

His eyes lit enthusiastically. “Oh! Oh! Have you been practicing for your elemental manipulation class?” He put his mug down next to mine. “I wanna see!”

So did I.

Wind was tricky and playful. It didn’t respond well to force. If you tried, it would just dance out of your grasp. But it could be guided. 

So I settled back in my chair and closed my eyes, and with a slow, steadying breath I opened myself up to my magic. I could feel it easier now, now that I knew what I was looking for. That bright thrumming in my chest that spread out and tingled to the tips of my fingers when I called upon it. And I thought of the wind — a cool breeze on a warm day, the laughter of children in high summer, the taste of crisp fall air. Lasko, sweet and scattered.

Slowly, trying to maintain my focus, I raised my hand and moved it in a circular motion. It took a moment to guide the air to do what I wanted, but eventually I could feel the cool breeze above my outstretched hand. 

“Oh! Oh! You made a little tornado!” There was the sound of creaking and I could just picture Caelum bouncing in his chair. “It’s so cute!”

Okay, step one: success.

As open as I was to the magic, I could feel Caelum next to me, a bright light in the middle of my kitchen. I could feel, if I let myself, his delight at my progress in magic, and the shadows of the day’s events that he was trying not to think about. 

And I could feel the moment I lost control of the spell. The little tornado leaped from my hand, landing directly in my mug, where it swirled enthusiastically, splattering us both with chocolate. 

“Shi—-take mushrooms.” I cut myself off, conscious of Caelum’s sensitivity to curse words. “Sorry! Sorry. I thought I had it there.” I opened my eyes to see him trying to catch a drop of chocolate from the end of his nose with his tongue.

“Hey, that was really good!” He reassured me. “It was like -- woosh! And then it jumped up on its own!”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. It was just too cute. And when he laughter joined mine, my heart just soared. It was worth a little embarrassment if I could make him laugh again.

Still snickering, I pulled a dishcloth from the drawer so we could clean ourselves off. 

His shirt, however, was not so easy to clean. It was still spotted with blood from when he was attacked, and now it was covered in splashes of chocolate. So I ducked behind the divider that served as both my bedroom wall and my dresser and pulled a loose pair of pajama pants and my oversized DAMN hoodie from one of the cubbies. I may be a corporate shill, as Gavin put it, for buying it, but it was comfortable and it had its uses. Including driving us to laughter again as we tried to fit Caelum’s horns through the neck opening. And I had bought it with my staff discount, so there.

“Upside,” I laughed as we finally succeeded. “At least your hot chocolate should be cool enough to drink now.” I had lost almost half of mine to the miniature whirlwind, but there was almost enough left in the saucepan to make up for its loss.

I passed him his mug and then settled back into my chair with my own. 

Caelum sipped his drink more cautiously this time, not wanting to burn himself again. And when he did his face lit up like a Christmas Tree. “Oh wow! It really does taste like a hug! It’s warm and sweet -- it’s like your hugs!”

I smiled back at him, taking a sip of my own drink and letting out a small sigh. That first hit of chocolate was always the best, but it was nothing next to the warmth that bloomed in my chest when he said that. “You give good hugs too. The best.”

Because he meant them every time. Because he held me close and didn’t make any move to let go until I did. 

Coming to Dahlia had been hard. I’d never lived away from the city where I grew up. Had never had to carry a secret that I couldn’t share even with my closest friends. And as for family… well, their reaction to the sudden appearance of my powers had been less than favorable. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it, and it made them angry, defensive, and afraid. They couldn’t see that I was afraid too.

So when I came to Dahlia, I was alone. No friends, no family, no job to fall back on. Just a bunch of powers that I couldn’t control and a new world that I didn’t understand. 

And then Caelum bounced into my life and brought the sun back. Hugging him that morning had felt like coming home. And for the first time in a long time -- since even before my powers manifested -- I really did feel like everything was going to be okay.

“I do?” He asked hopefully. “I try to. They should mean something and I don’t get to hug people a lot cuz most people can’t see me so it’s really nice when they can see me, then I can give them hugs when they’re feeling sad and I can make them happy again! When they say it’s okay. Cuz some people don’t like hugs and it’s not okay to hug people who don’t like hugs. But you like them, right?”

“Love them,” I confirmed. “And you can hug me whenever you want. Any time you need them.”

His eyes went almost cartoonishly large in his face. “I can?”

“Absolutely. Consider this blanket permission for hugs at all times,” I told him. “Well… okay, maybe not when I’m super busy. Then you have to ask first. But other than that, hugs whenever you want.”

“Can I have one now? Can I can I can I can I pleeeeeease?”

I laughed and had barely opened my arms in invitation before he set down his mug and launched himself at me.

Eventually we made it back to the couch, where I hugged him for a while longer and we both had another good cry. It was a brutal kind of shock, to have somebody actively try to hurt you. That would take anyone some time to deal with, let along somebody as loving and open and sensitive as Caelum. And I would never forget the sight of him stumbling through the rift into my apartment. The blackened eyes and the split lip, the way he hunched in on himself, favoring his broken ribs. The way he apologized for making me upset, as if he were not the one in need of comfort.

Those moments would be burned into my mind for the rest of my life.

And later that night, as we drifted off to sleep, I swore that I would never be that helpless again.

  
Two things that I learned about Caelum that night:

1) He was a cuddler.  
2) He slept like a rock.

The first of those was not surprising. Caelum was a being who was powered by positive emotion and seemed to get a boost with physical contact. Also, he was such an openly affectionate guy, it only made sense that he would snuggle right up in his sleep. 

It was strange, waking up with someone wrapped around me like that. I wasn’t used to having anyone there at all, let alone having them so close. But it wasn’t a bad kind of strange. Not in the slightest. 

Though it did make it a little tough to sneak out of bed without waking him. Once I managed to disentangle myself, I padded over to my closet, retrieving a worn stuffed bear. Its fur had been white once, but years of cuddling had turned it a little grey. The little bear had been with me since I was a kid, and held a lot of good memories. I hoped, as I tucked the toy in next to Caelum, that it would give him some kind of comfort as well.

I’d be lying if I said I had slept well. I kept waking up, thinking I’d find him gone. Or worse, waking from nightmares that he had been hurt again. I worried my bad dreams would wake him, but he didn’t even budge. At least it gave me time to plan for the morning.

The first thing I did was call my boss and one of my coworkers, arranging for someone to take my shift at the campus bookstore that afternoon. I claimed a family emergency, the closest I could come to the truth. I didn’t want to leave him alone. My boss was understanding, for which I was grateful. She’d been a godsend since I arrived, and as much as I didn’t want to take advantage of that kindness, this was too important. 

But with that taken care of, I could put my plan into action.

I started with breakfast.

Getting out the waffle maker was the biggest challenge. I had stashed it in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards, so not only did I have to find the thing, I had to get it out quietly enough that I wouldn’t wake Caelum.

But I needn’t have worried. He barely moved, except to curl a little tighter around the stuffed bear. 

I had a half-dozen waffles made before he even stirred. 

I could hear the soft grumble and the shift of blankets from across the apartment and turned just in time to see him sit up, Fred the Bear in hand, his hair a riotous tangle around his horns. I smiled, giving the cinnamon apples I was preparing a quick stir before I started the next waffle.

“Good morning.”

He offered a sleepy smile, cuddling the toy in his arms as he sat up. “Good morning.” Then he blinked, glancing around. “Did I sleep in? I didn’t mean to sleep in.”

“It’s not that late. And I figure you’re allowed to sleep in once in a while,” I told him. Especially after what he had been through. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He gave the bear a little squeeze. “He’s yours, right? He’s really soft. And he feels happy.”

“Fred’s a good bear. He rode shotgun in my car on my way to Dahlia. He’s a great navigator, but he can’t sing a note. Don’t let him tell you otherwise cuz he lies.”

Caelum giggled. “He does his best. I can’t sing either. Or my brothers and sisters say I can’t. But I do it anyway because it makes me happy. And I sing when I’m happy. So more singing makes me happier!”

“I don’t suppose waffles also make you happy, do they?”

He tossed off the blankets and practically skipped into the kitchen. “You made waffles? I love waffles! They smell so good! Oh, and they’re little hearts!” This was exclaimed as I pulled on some oven mitts and pulled the serving dish of the completed waffles out of the oven and set it down on a cooling rack on the counter. The waffles were printed in a sort of four leaf clover shape, with each leaf made by a heart. 

“I made cinnamon apples too. Or there’s syrup if you want.” I turned back to the stove, taking the apples off the heat and then pouring the mixture into the bowl that I had set nearby. I’d been puttering around the kitchen for over an hour, cooking breakfast and making sure I had everything we might need. 

It was annoying how much of a wreck I became when I had company. It took ages for me to figure out that the obsessive staging of drinks and preparing of food was a symptom of my anxiety. Maybe he wouldn’t notice the stash of tea organized around the kettle with the pair of perfectly aligned mugs. Or the fact that I’d made enough waffle batter to feed an army.

To be fair, I didn’t know how much he was going to eat. And if there were leftovers, I could freeze them and eat them for the rest of the week. 

“Both!” 

“Both it is!” I set a plate in front of him on the counter, along with the platter of waffles, the bowl of cinnamon apples, and the bottle of syrup. “Did you want something to drink? I could make more hot chocolate, or I’ve got milk and orange juice in the fridge. Or I could make some fairy wine if you want to wait a few minutes…”

“You’re nervous.” He set down the spoon he’d been using to spoon apples onto his waffle to watch me intently. “Why are you nervous? Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No!” I shook my head, hastening to reassure him. “No. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just…I’m sorry. I just really wanted to make you happy today and I got a little bit worked up about it.”

He cocked his head. “Why does wanting to make me happy make you nervous? I’m always happy when I’m with you. Unless you’re sad, and then I feel sad with you, but then we talk and you feel happy again and I feel happy again. So why were you nervous?”

I dragged one hand self-consciously through my hair. “I just… you work so hard to make people happy. So… I wanted to plan a day that was all about making you happy.”

“But I like making people happy. It makes me happy.”

“I know it does but….” I took a drink from my coffee cup. It was almost room temperature, but I didn’t care. I needed those few seconds to organize my thoughts. “Everybody needs somebody to worry about them, to want to make them happy, you know?”

“But I’m always happy.”

_You weren’t last night._ The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say them. I couldn’t hurt him that way. “But… you don’t always have to be. If you’re ever scared or annoyed or upset… It’s okay. You don’t have to pretend in front of me. You don’t have to be worried about causing knots with me. You help me untie mine. I’d like to help untie yours… if that’s okay.”

Caelum glanced away, and I could see his grip tighten ever so slightly around the teddy bear. “Empathy Daemons… we’re not supposed to cause knots in other people.”

“But who helps you untie your knots?”

He didn’t respond.

I came around the counter, pulling up the second stool so I could sit next to him. “My best friend told me once, ‘If you beat yourself up to get something done, then nobody wins. It hurts you and it hurts the thing that you’re working on because you’re not able to give it everything you got. So even if you don’t wanna take breaks for your sake -- and you totally should because you’re important and you matter and I don’t ever want you to think you’re not worth _everything_ \-- even if you can’t do it for you, then you should do it for the project.’ That applies to you too. If you’re going to take care of other people, you need to take care of yourself too. And sometimes that means letting other people take care of you.”

Caelum gave a soft sniffle. “I told you that. When you were working on your project and you were so stressed. And I made all the desserts.”

“Yeah, you did.”

“So… I’m your best friend?”

“Well… yeah.” I shrugged. “I was so lonely when I came here. I didn’t know anybody, and I couldn’t tell anybody back home why I was here or what I was doing. I wished for a friend and there you were. Being friends with you made me brave enough to talk to my classmates. I made friends here because of you.”

He smiled at me then, hesitant and beautiful. “Really?”

“Really, really,” I promised. “You’re my best friend and I love you so…caring about you, worrying about you… it’s not a knot. Or if it is, it’s a knot that makes me happy to have. Does that make sense? It’s like… a friendship bracelet. There’s knots, but they have purpose. They’re part of the whole. And they’re part of what makes it beautiful. ”

Caelum beamed, brighter than the sun. “I like that. You’re my best friend too. And I know you said I didn’t have to ask for hugs anymore and I could just hug you whenever I want as long as you’re not busy, but I’m going to ask for a hug anyway, okay?”

I laughed, opening my arms in invitation. “Always.”

We stayed that way for a moment, until the waffle maker beeped, signalling the end of its cook time. 

“So what do you say?” I asked as I flipped the finished waffle onto a plate for myself. “Shall we finish breakfast and have a Happy Caelum day?”

“Yeah,” he said with a bright smile. “I’d like that.”

Happy Caelum Day was a relatively low-key affair, but I think it was what we both needed. He jumped at my suggestion of baking brownies, and I was glad I’d had the foresight to pick up more baking supplies after his last pastry bender. Brownies were his favorite, I remembered that from last time. But this time we wouldn’t do it with magic, and the dishes could wait until later.

The challenge was to remind Caelum that this day was for him, and that the people he watched over would be fine for a day without him. 

“I know but… I wish I could share with them,” he sighed. “Everybody likes brownies, right? Brownies are happy food. And you know how to make confetti frosting so then they’re extra happy.”

“We could make two batches,” I suggested. Trust Caelum to want to turn a day about him into a way to make other people happy. “One for us, and one we could make for them. Like a surprise.”

“Oh! Yes! Surprise brownies are the best!” Caelum cheered. “Especially secret surprise brownies. Cuz it’s nice to know that someone is thinking about you, even if you don’t know who they are. Ooh! We can leave some for Asher and Davey’s mates too! Then they can both have some.”

“That’s a great idea! They’re going to love that.” It was going to mean the sacrifice of pretty much all of my tupperware, but I didn’t mind. Caelum was happy, and the people he watched over were going to get a nice surprise. That made it well worth it. 

  
As it turned out, Caelum’s recipe for brownies was pretty similar to the one that I always made. He was still wearing my DAMN sweater, so he pushed the sleeves up to his elbows so they wouldn’t get in the way as he stirred the batter. His enthusiastic stirring still ended up covering the counter in flour and cocoa powder, but like he said, making the mess was half the fun. 

And licking the left over batter from the spoon once the brownies were in the oven. 

We ended up cooking the brownies in two different sized pans; partially because I didn’t have two that were the same size, and partially because if we did the second batch in the wide pan, I could layer them like a cake. If we were going to give them to people, we might as well make them look pretty, right?

And Caelum worked really hard to make sure they looked good. He looked so serious as he piped the confetti frosting onto the first layer of brownies, you’d swear he was doing brain surgery. 

Our own brownies were significantly less pretty but equally delicious, swirled and striped with confetti frosting and dark chocolate ganache. We each got our own piping bag for those, so the surface was covered in hearts and butterflies and smiling faces.

“We should probably leave a note or something with the brownies,” I mused as I set the tray of gift brownies in the fridge. “So they know they are from a friend.” We wanted them to actually eat the brownies, and not be sketched out by the random food left on their doorstep.

“Oh! Oh! And we can use your sticky notes!” Caelum suggested. “The ones with the stars on them!”

“Sure we can!” I’d bought several packs of them upon starting at DAMN. The aesthetic of stars had always said ‘magic’ to me, so I thought they’d be a fun way to organize my school notes. Did that make me a massive nerd? Absolutely. Did I care? Nope, in fact you could say I didn’t give a DAMN.

With the other brownies chilling in the fridge, we migrated with our own tray of brownies to the couch of my little living room. We didn’t even bother to take them out of the pan. Just went at them with a couple of forks. We had enough dishes to do later.

“So, how do you want to deliver the other brownies?” I asked, forking another chocolate-loaded bite into my mouth. “I could drive you, if you wanted. But… maybe you’d like to keep the other people you watch anonymous. Which is totally cool if you do. I completely respect that.”

Caelum hesitated, setting down his fork. “I can use a rift to get there.”

But I could hear the hesitation in his voice. After what had happened to him yesterday, I didn’t blame him at all for having reservations about travelling by rift again. “Can you take someone with you? When you rift?” 

He shook his head. “I’ve never been good at taking people with me.”

“Oh…” I bit my lip, frowning in consideration. “Is there a way to, like…. Leave the rift open after you step through? Or… Oh! Oh! Can you just reach through? And not go through all the way? Like when you came over when I was studying and we talked about knocking.”

He brightened considerably at the idea. “Oh! I can do that! I can do that!” He jumped up excitedly. “I can open a rift, and then leave the brownies, and I can stay here and it will be super fast!”

“Perfect!” And maybe this would help get him more comfortable with rifting again. 

It had only been a day, but traveling through rifts was Caelum’s primary form of transportation, and the only way for him to get back to his home plane. What would happen if he stayed here too long? My magic came from the plane on the other side of the Meridian. Was that the same plane that Caelum was from? Or was he from a different one altogether? How many planes were there?

I gave my head a small shake. I could ask him about that later. Today was Happy Caelum day and I needed to focus on making him happy. 

So with that in mind, I swiped up a bit of frosting onto my finger and dabbed it right on Caelum’s nose. 

He gasped, eyes going wide, and immediately went cross-eyed and tried to lick the frosting from his nose. 

I grinned, taking another bite of brownie for myself. “You seem to have a little something on your nose there.”

In a move faster than i could track, Caelum lunged at me, drawing a streak of confetti frosting across my face as he tackled me. “So do you.”

Wiping it off with my hand would be easier, but pulling faces and trying to lick it off myself got the laugh that I needed to hear. 

And the distraction I needed to smear more frosting across his face.

Things got a little messy after that. Both of us ended up covered in frosting as the icing war devolved into a tickle fight, leaving us both tangled up on the couch, breathless with laughter. 

Sticky, covered in chocolate, and still giggling, we eventually stumbled into the kitchen to clean up. I’d tossed Caelum’s clothing into the washing machine last night before bed, and I took extra care to make sure that there was not a single mark or stain on them before I passed them back to him. He didn’t need any more reminders of what had happened to him before he stumbled into my apartment last night. 

I gave him the privacy of the rest of the apartment as I retreated to the bathroom to change out of my own icing- and chocolate-smeared clothing. 

Not only was he already changed by the time he returned, but he’d somehow managed to get all of the chocolate and frosting out of his hair as well. By magic, I guessed, as it was the only thing I could think of that could clean that kind of thing out of hair so quickly. I wondered if he could teach me that trick. The damp towel I had used just hadn’t quite cut it.

And he was doing the dishes.

“Hey! I thought we were saving those for later.”

“It is later,” he said, setting down the empty waffle platter on the drying mat. “There was lots of dishes and I didn’t want you to have to do them all later so I decided I should help.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him that today was his day to have fun, not to clean. But he looked so happy to help, so I let him have this one.

“Thanks for getting started on those,” I smiled. “Why don’t I get those dried and put away, and then we can deliver your brownies!”

“Yeah!” Caelum cheered, pumping his fists in the air and scattering suds on the floor. “Oops.”

“Consider it a head-start on mopping.”

With the dishes done, we removed the layered brownies from the fridge, cutting them into equal slices to divide among Caelum’s wards. Each was topped with a star-spangled blue note, declaring them “From a Friend”.

Caelum gazed over the spread, looking both pleased and apprehensive. 

“You ready?” I asked softly.

For a moment, he said nothing.

“You don’t have to do it this way if you don’t want to. We can find another way to deliver them.”

But he shook his head. “No, I want to do this.” He straightened, squaring his shoulders, a determined light in his eyes. “I can do this. We made delicious surprise brownies and they are going to be surprised and happy.”

“They’re going to love them.”

Caelum closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. “Okay,” he murmured under his breath. “I can do this. I can do this.” He raised his hand, and a shimmering line appeared in the air in front of us. Though it I could see the hazy image of a house, wavering slightly like some kind of heat mirage. He reached out for it hesitantly, then paused, glancing back at me. “Will you hold my hand?”

“Whenever you need it.” I took his hand and passed him the first container. “Ready?”

He took it with a nod. “Ready.”

It was like a low-stakes game of ding-dong-ditch. Caelum reached through the rift, ringing the doorbell of the house and leaving the container of brownies on the stoop in front of the door. The rift was hard to see, unless you knew what you were looking for, so he left it open just long enough to be sure that his gifts were found.

I tried not to look, wanting to maintain some kind of anonymity for them. But I couldn’t help but overhear their reactions when they opened the door. Their exclamations of surprise, and Caelum’s answering beam of pleasure, warmed me to my toes. 

He did a little dance in place every time a door opened. With each exclamation of joy, he seemed to stand a little taller, and his aura flared a little brighter.

We saved Asher and Davey’s for last. 

There was the knock, the ding of the bell. A moment later the door opened and a person leaned out to pick up the containers and read the note. 

“Baaabe!” A voice called from inside the house. “Who is it?”

“Someone left us brownies!” The other person called back. 

There was a cheer from inside. “Hell yeah, surprise brownies!”

Caelum smiled fondly as the door closed. “Brownies are Asher’s favorite too.”

“Asher has good taste,” I smiled back, giving Caelum a companionable shoulder-nudge. “He sounds like a fun guy.”

“He is. I always liked playing with him and Davey.” He glanced back towards the door for a moment before closing the rift, and I wondered if Asher could still see him, and how long it had been if he couldn’t. 

“Last one?”

He nodded, taking the last two containers from me and opening one last rift. Then he rang the bell and set the brownies down in front of the door. 

“Oh hey, brownies! Davey, someone left us brownies!”

“What -- why?” 

“I dunno! But look, sprinkles! Do you think Asher learned to bake?”

There was a bark of laughter. “If he tried, there’s no amount of frosting that could make them remotely edible.”

“Oh come on, he’s not -- “

“No way in hell he managed to make those without burning their house down.”

Caelum snickered and closed the rift again. “He’s right. Asher was banned from their kitchen when they lived together cuz he kept lighting things on fire. He tries really hard but he’s much better with a barbecue. It’s a good thing his mate knows how to cook. They’re really sweet. I didn’t help them get together but I really like them. And they get along well with Davey’s mate too.”

“They seem sweet.”

“They’ve been good for him. His walls have come down a lot and he has a lot less knots than he used to.”

“I think you’ve had a lot to do with that yourself,” I told him, pulling him in for a one-armed hug. You’ve been his friend for so long. You’ve done so much for him, even if he doesn’t know about that right now. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”

He turned, wrapping me in his arms. “Thank you.”

“Hey, you don’t have to thank me for telling the truth.”

“No,” he shook his head. “For...everything. For being my friend.”

I squeezed him tight, taking in his warmth, and the deep love that radiated from him. “ I’ll always be here for you. I promise. Whenever you need me. I will always be your friend.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write. I'm hoping I was able to keep him in character. I was trying to balance his joyful nature with the aftermath of being hurt, and the affect that might have had on an empath like him.


End file.
